During the Maui Invitational, a match-up featuring top-five teams No. 1 Kansas and No. 4 Marquette exuded an intensity typically seen in conference rivalry games during February. The head coaches for each team even appeared to lose their composure.
In Marquette’s 73-59 victory during the tournament’s semifinals in Honolulu, head coach Shaka Smart of the Golden Eagles took issue with some trash talk received from a Jayhawk player after successfully making a basket in the first half.
Tempers flared in the first half after Kansas swingman Kevin McCullar Jr. drained a 3-pointer in front of Marquette’s bench. McCullar jawed at Smart as he headed back downcourt, and members of both teams had to be pulled away from the heated dustup that followed.
An angry Smart and Jayhawks coach Bill Self appeared to exchange unpleasantries along the sideline at the end of the ensuing discussion with officials.
Technical fouls were given to both benches. Ultimately, Marquette ended the first half with a 38-28 lead and maintained control throughout a calmer second half.
“I probably shouldn’t have gotten so excited,” Smart told ESPN Milwaukee in a postgame radio interview. “We’re Marquette. We are Marquette, and we don’t take a backseat to anyone. If someone wants to step up and challenge us, OK, we’re going to challenge them right back.”
Meanwhile, Self didn’t sound like he was buying Smart’s explanation of what sparked the dustup. “I doubt it was accurate, whatever he [Smart] said. I’m not going to get into it.”
Oso Ighodaro tallied 21 points and nine rebounds for Marquette in the win. Chase Ross (12 points) and Kam Jones (10) were the other Golden Eagles (5-0) to score in double figures.
Kansas’ McCullar, the supposed instigator of the first-half altercation, led all scorers with 24 points. Hunter Dickinson had 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Jayhawks dropped to 4-1 and will face No. 7 Tennessee in the third-place game at 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. Marquette takes on No. 2 Purdue in the title game at 5 p.m.
Denial of responsibility! Vigour Times is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
